“I’ve always fought guys who were 20 to 30 pounds heavier than me, and this time I won’t drop any weight and that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “I’m giving up the height and weight of the guys who are on the same level, skill-wise, and now I’m leveling the playing field. And I think there will be a lot of surprised people on Saturday night.
The most surprised? He expects it to be Tyson Pedro.
“As soon as I can put a little scare on him, doubt will start to cross his mind because once he gets past the first two or three minutes of this fight, his favorite list will start to change, and the stats in fight will really start to change once I get comfortable and he starts getting stressed,” Hunsucker said. “Because if he doesn’t lay me down fast, all the pressure is on Tyson Pedro. Look who has the big story right now. I’m just showing up to have a good time and to show the work that I’ve done and to really show who I am as a fighter, which I haven’t been able to do yet.
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It’s not for lack of trying, and while the results of his hard work don’t show on his record, the successes in life far outweigh those that came on fight night, and it’s the most important thing to someone who will be able to show people a little more where he came from and where he is going in the documentary, which has been in the works for a year and a half.
“It was a really cool experience, honestly,” Hunsucker said. “These guys came out of nowhere and they followed me for 14 to 15 months, and they filmed all kinds of parts of my life and they built a beautiful showcase of the last year and a half of my life and the whirlwind of emotions from the moment I got the call from Mick to fight Tuivasa and make my UFC debut. It was humbling and it was amazing. It was a great experience and I think it’s been a great experience for me. helped prepare me for the rest of my life and the biggest fight of my life.
Professionally and on paper, Pedro may be the biggest fight of Hunsucker’s life, but in reality, getting here has been the biggest fight, and it’s something he wants his four children, aged from six months to 11 years old, know about their father. But he doesn’t seek to be their hero, because in his eyes, they are his heroes, writing in his official UFC biography: “My heroes are my children. They give me strength I never thought I would have and they inspire me every day.
